The wind blows here, the wind blows there.

Today's Sunday. Yesterday here in Sydney, we had a storm. Worst storm i have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

I was smart enough to stay at home for the entire day, and considering we are in a drought this storm just blew me away. The rain level had reached the 20mm levels and even beyond on the outer suburbs of Sydney. The wind had blown at a gale of around 50km/h, and there were a few brief moments were the wind blew in at 90km/h. You could see the wind, and the damage, in just a few minutes, was quite shocking at best.

The end result: one of the windows fasted to one of the doors had somehow been removed by the wind, the dumpster, weighing around what i manage to be about a tonne, had managed to been pushed by a distance of around 100m, with only a tree preventing it from reaching the street. In Newcastle, people had been killed, blown into danger by the sheer intensity of the wind.

Be grateful, for those who live in fine weather.
And till later.

2D Isometric Graphics vs 3D Graphics

You've made up your mind haven't you. 3D is clearly better than 2D, right?.
Nah. I don't think so.

Although 3D graphics, especially in the age where the likes of the Xbox 360 and the fabled PS3 is out, would be the immediate preference for the overwhelming majority of people. I, however, still believe that to a certain extent, 2D isometric graphics, when used correctly and mastered to perfection, actually looks better than some 3D graphic titles. Even the ones with the latest graphical effects and technology.

Its all in the detail.

I'm going to use two games, Final Fantasy IX and Planescape: Torment. Both use 2D isometric graphics. If you've played both or one of these games, remember how they've looked. If you have no idea how they look like because you have no idea what i'm on about or you've never played either of the two games, then click here and here. In these two games, notice the level of detail that the isometric 2d backgrounds consist of. Notice the lighting in some areas of FFIX. The Lighting used, the little touches on each background on each city to each marsh. You've probably never noticed it, and until a certain point neither did i until quite recently. Its the artwork of the graphics, and the fact that the graphic designers who work at game companies know how to use the medium for their game. A 3d game, with poorly designed artwork, is no comparison to a 2d game with carefully, and gorgeously mastered backdrops and backgrounds, with the little touches placed here and there. Likewise, a 3d game with brilliant artwork, is also more effective than a 3d game that uses the latest pixel shader effects and yet has not used those features to their full potential. WoW is a good example of how the best looking game isn't always the one with the best effects.

Perhaps i'm simply an admirer of skill and talent, but thats something i'm sure that you guys here wouldn't have thought about.

Till Later,
Fury52.

Why I Love Google

Google. Quite a kooky name, but to be perfectly honest one of my most favorite corporations. Well for starters there's the simple, elegant and efficient search engine, which serves as the heart and soul of Google, but thats not just it. Its their approach to everything. Simplicity. Such a nice word, its something that i need more of, and something which has made Google into a true force to be reckoned with. Its quite amazing really, how a simple idea, rejected by all the big search engines at the time (Yahoo and MSN), managed to end up topping their own search engines and are now at threat of being redundant thanks to the popularity and, when you think about it from an economic perspective, superior market share, of Google.

But why is it so? Why do i admire Google so? Well lets think about it:

• Simplicity is King - Main reason for Google's success. Simplicity means efficiency. Efficiency means that people can search, find results, be happy. All quickly and elegantly. This is something that yahoo and msn was never able to do. Even its tools, such as Blogger, which i so love dearly, is so simplistic and easy to use - but so effective. Its simplicity becomes its edge, simplicity is what makes Google powerful.
  
• Free is Good - Everything that you see here is free. 100%. Thats good news for so many people. Especially considering what they offer, which comes next:
  
• Range of Tools - Check out that link and you'll see what i mean. Blogger, Google maps, Google Earth, Youtube (yeah its not their creation, but it is their property, so it counts), Picasa, and Docs and Spreadsheets. Last one is really impressive, because it means that Microsoft word just got a free, easier (no crashes) and considerably powerful competitor. Well..okay, not a competitor exactly, but you know what i mean.
• Approach to Everything - Their philosophy is elegance through simplicity, from the products to the workplace to the....workers. If you've seen the videos of the Google staff and if you've watched a couple of documentaries on Google, you'll understand that its quite (as far as i know) a great place to work. And the end results are impressive.
  

Well there it is folks, why i love Google. And in case you're wondering, no. I'm not trying to get some brownie points with the good folks here. I'm just trying to find topics to blog about :]

Till Later